Wednesday morning at 10am, 27 students, 2 COBA faculty, 1 Executive-In-Residence and his wife left dry and cool West Texas for the bright lights of THE big City. New York City. Dave Swearingen, COBA’s current Executive-In-Residence, is a former VP of Corporate Communications for Johnson & Johnson. He served as an elder at the Manhattan Church of Christ when he lived in New York, and he and his wife, Karen, have recently relocated to Abilene to be near family. Mr. Swearingen has arranged an incredible trip for our COBA students.

ACU students enjoyed a hearty breakfast at Lindy's at 7th Ave and 32nd Street

Today, Friday, includes visits to:

Johnson & Johnson corporate headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ

American Express corporate headquarters

And dinner on their own and exploring the city

COBA group at CNN studios in New York City

Saturday, the group will go on a 3 hour Island cruise and then have more time to explore the City. On Sunday, the group will worship at the Manhattan Church of Christ and will have a mentoring session with Christian business leaders. After the session and a meal, the group heads back to the airport and back to ACU.

Stay tuned for a wrap up of the trip and pictures/videos of the students’ adventures!

We’ll wrap up with this…

Amanda, sophomore management major from Denton just sent us a message about their tour of J&J this morning:

“We learned about the background and history of Johnson & Johnson, and got to take a tour thru their fitness center and media productions studio. We met Jeff Leebaw and Craig Rothenberg, who are their VPs of Corporate Communications, Charlotte Fox, their Director of HR Communications Integration and Jeanne Fedoryk, who is their Worldwide VP of J&J Recruiting Services. Biggest takeaway for me: intellectual curiosity. Ask question in interviews and be engaging. Try and find a company that has similar values as you do.”